Airplanes and helicopters rely on aerodynamic lift generated by a wing or rotor to maintain the flight of the vehicle. In addition, wind turbines rely on aerodynamic lift to turn the rotor and generate electricity. In order to control the aerodynamic lift and optimize performance of various airfoils, it would be beneficial to quickly and easily determine the lift generated by the airfoil. Conventional systems and methods of measuring aerodynamic lift require various data points and information, such as dynamic pressure, local air speed, air density, temperature, and the like.
In some arrangements, blade adjustments may be made based on or to optimize the amount of aerodynamic lift generated by a blade. In order to effectively and efficiently control these adjustable blades, it would be beneficial to provide a method of estimating the aerodynamic load generated by a blade at any given time without requiring excessive amounts of data and/or environmental condition information.